Punjab: BJP leaders participate in 'shoe shining' campaign to raise funds for 'poor' road

Senior BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna, along with other party members and volunteers of an NGO, on Sunday polished shoes of people at Banjarbagh Chowk here to raise funds for repairing a stretch of Hoshiarpur-Dharamshala national highway.Talking to the media here, Khanna said a shoe shining campaign was launched by an NGO to wake up the ineffective Punjab government and to aware the district administration about the poor condition of the Hoshiarpur-Chintpurni road ahead of the Sawan Ashtami fair.

Senior BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna, along with other party members and volunteers of an NGO, on Sunday polished shoes of people at Banjarbagh Chowk here to raise funds for repairing a stretch of Hoshiarpur-Dharamshala national highway.

Talking to the media here, Khanna said a 'shoe shining' campaign was launched by an NGO to wake up the “ineffective” Punjab government and to aware the district administration about the ''poor'' condition of the Hoshiarpur-Chintpurni road ahead of the Sawan Ashtami fair. The money raised from the campaign would be handed over to the local municipal corporation to repair the said road, he said.

The 'shoe shining' campaign was launched by Hoshiarpur-based NGO Youth Citizen Council Punjab. Its president Pankaj Sharma and other workers also participated in the campaign. “Lakhs of people used to go on the pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Goddess Chintpurni (in Himachal Pradesh's Una) on foot through this road during the Sawan Ashtami fair which is going to start from July 28,” Khanna, who is BJP state in-charge of Himachal, said.

Khanna said due to the dilapidated condition of this road, pilgrims visiting Mata Chintpurni are facing a lot of problems.

Khanna demanded from the administration to immediately get the road repaired or constructed keeping in view the ensuing Sawan Ashtami fair.